Zweite Geschichte von dem Vollmond: Zweifel
by The Tambourine Man
Summary: It's been almost a month since the first night Ruby became a werewolf. Team RNJR makes a stopover in a new town, but what should be a few days of peaceful rest are tainted with fear and uncertainty.
1. Raetsel

Winter was almost over. The days were getting longer. The weather was getting warmer. Snows were getting lighter and less frequent. Team RNJR- or JNRR, or RRNJ, or RRJN, or any other of the many names they had idly discussed during their long trek- were still making their way across the continent of Sanas. There were mountains at the horizon on either side. In between them, a river wound its way across the broad, flat plain. The tall prairie grass gave them a refreshingly good view of their surroundings, but did little to stop the chilling winds. As they made their way to the west side of the valley, where the mountains closed in again, they passed by several fields of farmland.

"Where to next?" Ruby asked her companions. "This isn't going to be another town with a weird name, is it?"

"Well, that depends." Jaune replied. "Do you consider 'Geborgencumb' to be a weird name?"

"Well, yeah."

"Aww, C'mon Ruby. It's pretty easy." Nora interjected, punctuating it with a smack to Ruby's shoulder that was meant to be friendly, but probably came out harder than she meant it to. "Geborgencumb. Geborgencumb. Geborgen cumb. See? There's no way that's as hard as you're making it out to be."

"Uh, right then. So, anyone know anything about this place? Ren?"

"Geborgencumb is one of the largest independent villages in the world. It was first founded as part of the kingdom of Vale in the lead-up to the Great War, but it sued for independence about thirty years later, on the grounds that the kingdom had failed to properly protect it."

"Wow. You really do know a lot about-" Ruby turned back to Ren, finding him reading out of a book. He almost looked like he was trying to hide behind it.

"I still don't know much about towns on this continent."

 **SCENE**

Geborgencumb was about what they expected from a large, independent village. It was nestled into the foothills, nearby a large, lazy river. It was at the point where the prairie gave way to forest, surrounded by old trees. It was also built like a massive fortress, surrounded on all sides by massive walls. They watched several armed guards patrolling atop the battlement as they waited at one of the gates. After a quick interview with an important-looking soldier, they where let in with directions to the local inn. No one wanted to wait longer than they had to to get to Mistral, but the sun was getting low and none of them had slept in an actual bed since their awful night in Haewencroft.

Geborgencumb was a much different sort of town. The buildings were tall and built shoulder-to-shoulder. The facades were painted bright shades of every color, with white trim and white borders around the windows. Or, given how much trim and how many large windows there were, perhaps they were white with various other colors added on. The roofs were angled steeply. The streets were far from crowded, but there were still a number of people out at twilight. They passed by a group of children reluctantly splitting up for dinner and a couple around their age walking down the street arm in arm. They could hear faint music, coming from a few streets over. It brought a smile to Ruby's face, something that had become a rare sight over the last few weeks.

The hotel appeared to be a repurposed house, with a counter installed in the foyer. The innkeeper was an older woman, stout and friendly looking.

"Well, hey there!" she said to them.

"Hello." Ruby responded. "We'd like two rooms, please. Just for tonight."

"Oh? Where ya headed?" The innkeeper asked, even though she had turned to look through the rack of keys behind her. From the look of it, most of the rooms were currently occupied.

"We're going east, to the coast."

"Oh no, you don't want to be headed that way just yet." She said as she slid a key off the rack. "The pass is still snowed in. You'd better wait a few more days." She removed another key and turned back to them.

Ruby didn't see her teammates, but she had a feeling they were wearing the same look of skepticism she was. The innkeeper seemed taken aback by the sight. It took her a moment to respond. "Okay, I know how that sounds. And yeah, I'd love it if y'all decided to stay here for a year or two. But the pass up ahead is dangerous, even in the spring or fall. The land's tricky, the rocks fall without warning, and it's all full of Grimm. Two years ago, a caravan tried pushing through before the thaw. Not one of 'em came back." Her voice cracked on the final words.

"Okay, do you know when it will be clear?" Jaune asked.

"Not too much longer. The next caravan is going to be leaving in four days, so it should be clear by then. They'd probably like to have some huntsmen along."

Neither Ren nor Nora spoke. Jaune weighed their options. They were on the clock to reach Mistral as soon as they could. Another incident was on its way, they could tell. He would say the deadline was approaching, but he didn't know what the deadline truly was. The enemy's plans were still completely unknown. A few days could mean all the difference, or they could be inconsequential. Making haste could be worse than useless. The elements were cruelly impersonal, and something even the greatest huntsmen had to be wary of. There was nothing they could do to help Mistral if they never got there at all. And there was a part of Jaune, that he wouldn't admit out loud, that simply wanted to spend a few days resting.

Jaune and Ruby shared a glance. No words passed between them, but he could still sense that Ruby had come to the same conclusion. "We'll wait for the caravan."

"Well, that's good to hear." Said the innkeeper as she handed a key each to Ruby and Jaune.

Ruby turned to Nora. "Alright with rooming together for a few days?"

"Actually, I think I'd prefer to room with Ren."

The resulting awkward silence would have made a self-conscious person feel embarrassed. Nora could not be self-conscious if ordered to at gunpoint. Ruby handed her the key with no further question.

The innkeeper chuckled. "Well, you won't regret that. Spring's here, and it's time to celebrate. The Spring Market'll be the night before you go. They'll have food, games, music, what have you."

"I think we could do with a little party." Jaune said.

They had already started toward their rooms when they heard the innkeeper mention one more thing. "You won't even have any trouble seeing. There's a full moon that night!"

 **SCENE**

"So, are you going to tell me the real reason?" Ren asked. Their room was small and had little in the way of decoration except for a few replica rococo paintings, but the warm air and soft bed felt luxurious after their long travels. Ren had felt so comfortable; he had hesitated for some time to broach the topic that was bothering him.

"The real reason what?"

Nora had a certain routine when it came to sleeping. She would lay down, spend at least an hour tossing and turning in an effort to get comfortable, end up in a position so bizarre you would think it impossible to sleep, and the pass out to the point that it would take a freight train to wake her up. She currently had not made it past the first phase.

"The reason you didn't want to room with Ruby."

"What? What makes you think there's a reason?"

Ren rolled his eyes. Nora didn't do things arbitrarily. Whatever she did, she always had a reason.

"Don't roll your eyes at me." Nora responded, even though the lights were out. "I just didn't feel like being around Ruby."

"Haewencroft, right?"

"She went berserk and it nearly killed y- us. And now she just acts like nothing's wrong?"

"She was possessed." Ren said, too matter-of-factly.

"How do we know that's what happened, though? How do we know she isn't still possessed? How do we know she's still _her?_ "

"Relax. I'm sure nothing's changed." Said Ren, rubbing a certain spot on his leg.

 **SCENE**

"You're not going to sleep tonight, are you?" Jaune groaned. It was past midnight, according to the clock in their room, but Ruby still hadn't turned off the light.

"Nope, nope. Not. Yet. This part's really exciting." Said Ruby, her face still buried one of the beaten-up paperbacks she took with her on the trip.

"Real page-turner, huh?"

"Mm-hmm. Yep. Definitely."

"Even though you're still on the same page you were on an hour ago?"

Ruby finally put the book down. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"We could talk about this." _We could also wait until tomorrow,_ Jaune thought to himself.

"I'm trying to figure out what do when… you know."

Jaune nodded. Sleep would have to wait. "Any ideas?"

"I though maybe I could just head outside the walls. Get away from everyone. But, well…"

"If you don't end up coming back and jumping the walls, you might wake up the next day miles from civilization with no weapon." _Or clothing._

"I could lock myself in a basement all night."

"I don't think there's a door around here that could hold the wolf. Any other ideas?"

"Think they've got a strawberry patch around here?"

Jaune shook his head.

Ruby buried her face in a pillow and screamed.

"It would be nice if we knew some more about werewolves."

"Yeah…" Ruby said, sounding distracted. "Maybe we could learn something else. There are a lot of people here. Someone might know something."

"Couldn't hurt."

"Alright. Tomorrow, we can start our investigation." It wasn't much of a plan, really, but it was enough to put a smile on Ruby's face.

"Sounds good." Jaune could manage a small smile back.

Ruby's eyes seem to linger on him for a moment. "Great! G'night, Jaune!" She somehow managed to shut off the light and throw he blanket over herself in one movement.

Jaune lay back against his pillow and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was going to be an important day.

 **Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this done. I am going to see this story through to the end.**


	2. Luegner

Ruby stared across the table. She and Jaune were currently sitting in the library of Geborgencumb. They had an eclectic stack of books between them. "So, what have we found so far?"

"Well, I found this book here." Jaune pointed to one with a cover in a dead language. "It's five hundred years old and talks about how there's a secret, evil cabal who makes deals with demons so they can become werewolves and secretly kill people."

"That doesn't sound very helpful."

"Especially not given this four hundred year old book." Jaune said, holding up another aged book titled _The Discoverie of Wolves_ , "Which is all about how the author of the other book was a fraud. This one," Jaune pointed to a fairly new book on folklore, "says that you can turn a werewolf back by throwing an iron bar over its head."

"…An iron bar?"

"Yes. That is what it said."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Nope."

"Think it'll work?"

"It would make things much easier for us, but this book also talks about the whole spread-through-bite thing, so it may not be entirely accurate. You find anything?"

"A biography of an old Huntsman. He said he fought a man who turned into a wolf, and made him turn back by drawing three drops of blood from him."

"I… don't think that'll work." Jaune said, looking at the scar on the back of Ruby's hand. _You lost a lot more than that last time._

"Maybe it has to be _exactly_ three drops?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"You could use a really pointy eye dropper?"

The eyebrow somehow rose even higher.

"This other one here said you could make a werewolf change back by saying its name three times."

"That one doesn't work. Hearing your name made you a bit less vicious, but it only worked so well. Is there anything else?" Jaune asked as he sorted through the stack of books Ruby had found.

"Wolf's bane could cure a werewolf. Or kill one. Or it might cause it. Everyone thinks it does something, but nobody agrees on what."

"That sounds like-" Jaune stopped as he studied one of the books Ruby had taken; _Love Moon_ yet another of the sort of trashy romance novels Ruby used to read back at Beacon, when her sister wasn't looking.

" _Lupe Scarlet has never been the most popular girl around. She does badly in school, constantly sticks her foot in her mouth, and manages to screw up almost everything she tries. But this year's going to be different! She's starting off in a new school, and one of her upperclassmen has volunteered to tutor her. He's handsome and friendly, and before long, the two of them grow closer. She just has to make sure their sessions end before the sun goes down-"_

He glanced back up at Ruby, unsurprised to see her looking embarrassed. "Okay, I was kind of reaching with that one." She confessed. "But if we're going to figure something out, we need all the ideas we can get!"

Jaune looked though their stacks again, and realized that there were about a dozen romance novels.

"I had no idea people thought giant, slobbering monsters were so romantic." _I had no idea Ruby read so much of this stuff, either._

"Some of them aren't very realistic." Ruby sighed. "But you need people with you when you're afra- wait, was I really slobbering?"

" _All_ the ideas we can get."

Jaune sighed. Was getting attacked by a big snarling monster really that romantic? "Okay. Do we have any good ideas? Did anyone even write a werewolf like you?"

"This one did." Ruby said glumly, indicating yet another novel. "She transformed twice a month, on the two nights when the moon was full, and becomes…"

"A mindless killing machine?"

Ruby nodded.

"So, how did they cure her?"

Ruby gulped. "They didn't. Her friends ended up having to kill her to survive."

"Okay, that's no help."

Ruby let out a sigh. "None of it is. Everyone keeps going back to the same few things, and nobody writes about what it's actually like." Ruby stared glumly at the book. Her optimism from the previous night was proving remarkably fragile.

"Well, we have other things we could try!" Jaune suggested.

"Like what?" Ruby's voice was dull, distant. She didn't even bother to look up.

 _That's a good question._ "There's probably a church here to… some god or another."

"What? Just go and pray for a miracle?"

"Well, praying couldn't hurt. But I was thinking more of an exorcism."

'Would that really work?"

"Maybe. I figure it's worth a shot."

"Yeah, it might be." Ruby nodded to herself. "Anything else?"

"Well, there are probably still more books to check. There might be some bookstores around here."

"They might have an antique store around here. Those are good for finding really old books."

"Okay, so, where should we go first?" Jaune asked.

"Actually, maybe we should split up. I'll check the stores, and you try to get a priest?"

"What? Are you worried you'll burst into flames if you go into a church?"

"No! No! It's just to save time." Ruby said, not wanting to tell Jaune that he was correct.

 **SCENE**

Ruby sighed and asked herself what, exactly, she was doing. The literal answer was that she was looking through a large and disorganized store. She was currently sitting in an overstuffed chair, looking down at a coffee table that was probably older than her father and examining the various items laid out on it. Among them was what had initially seemed to be an ornate knife, but under close inspection was actually an ornate letter opener. The thin handle was black, with metallic inlay in the shape of a flower Ruby couldn't name. The blade, which had an edge as sharp as a pillow, was long and curved with an inlaid design she could only barely see. She was thinking of getting it.

And there was the real answer to her question; wasting time on something that seemed nice instead of dealing with how fruitless the whole thing really seemed. This was the third shop she had checked, and none of them had anything useful. She wasn't even sure there would be a fourth shop. It wasn't even lunchtime, and it seemed that their plan had already failed. Ruby's stomach growled, just to drive the point home.

Ruby picked up the letter opener again. It really was lovely, and it wasn't too expensive. She ran her finger over the dull edge once again. Then, out of curiosity, she pressed the point against her finger. He aura should mean she couldn't get hurt from something so minor, after all.

Ruby jerked the letter opener away, and stared dumbfounded. There was a small, red drop welling up from her finger.

"Hmm, now that's quite interesting." Ruby hadn't even realized that she wasn't alone, until she heard his voice. She looked behind her and saw a lanky man in an old-fashioned, tan suit with short, greying brown hair. He had a full and somehow jagged-looking moustache.

"Nope. Not at all. Just a pricked finger. Totally boring." Ruby said in a way she hoped sounded natural.

"Hardly. Either you are huntress who has no Aura- interesting, if far from wise- or you are a huntress who somehow got injured in spite of her Aura."

"Who said I was a Huntress?"

"True, you haven't. I suppose those bullets on your belt could simply be a fashion statement?"

Ruby didn't say anything.

"And with an ornate letter opener? One I would guess is inlaid with silver?" He leaned in close to Ruby. "Tell me, might you be a werewolf?"

Ruby's jaw dropped. "How?"

"I'm a travelling scholar, of sorts. I've studied the legends of Sanas for years. I've been seeking someone like you for a long time."

Ruby stared back at him, debating whether or not she should go for her scythe. She finally settled on, "So what are you going to do now?"

"Well, that's simple. I'm going to have a long talk with you to learn more about your… condition. Perhaps over lunch?"

It felt far too convenient, a man coming out of nowhere like this.

But if he had information, she had too few options to pass it up.

"Sure."

 **Author's Note: Okay, wow. I do not know how this one took so long. I guess my life has really gotten busy. I'd initially planned to have this story finished before Volume 5 came out, but now I'm not sure I'll be able to do that.**

 **Trivia note: The book summary? I'd initially planned on making it sound like a bad airport romance novel, but then I realized that I don't know what those are actually like. So I made it a light novel.**

 **Also, you may want to look up the chapter titles.**


	3. Liebe?

"Interesting" was all he had to say.

"It's not 'interesting'" Ruby said. Or at least she tried to say. With her mouth still full of sandwich, it didn't come out very clearly. She had to swallow before continuing. "I almost killed my friend! I almost ate people! This is kind of a problem!"

"And you say that you can remember something from the other man?"

"N-not much…" Ruby said, trying not to let the man see her shudder.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes!" Ruby yelled. "All I can remember was the time right before his death! I c-can't go back any further than that!"

"Hmm. I guess that there's no hint there. A shame." He said, his voice not betraying any disappointment.

"All you've done is ask questions! Are you ever going to tell me anything?"

"My dear, you've found a dozen conflicting stories in one day. I've been looking for years. How many do you think _I've_ heard? I do want to help you. I just needed to know where to start."

"Okay. Do you have anything, then?"

The man chuckled. "I've seen an account from three hundred years ago, talking about a man with a similar problem to yours. It started when he found a man's corpse in the woods. Some time after, he went through a terrible change and nearly destroyed his village. He did ultimately find something that kept the wolf from attacking people. " He leaned in and whispered to her, "We _could_ try it, if you'd like."

"I don't know…"

The man scowled. "Why not? Weren't you just eager for any solution?"

Ruby frowned. Why was she suddenly unsure? She'd been at the end of her rope. Now, a great possibility was in front of her, all because of one stroke of luck. It was almost…

Too good to be true.

Did he have some ulterior motive? Was he lying? Why would he? She had a hundred questions, and not an answer in sight. She had a hundred questions, and not an answer in sight.

"Sorry, I need some time to think. Can I get back to you?"

The man let out a sigh, annoyed and theatrical. "Very well then. I'll be at this same restaurant, at this same time tomorrow, and the day after. But I don't see what you have to consider."

Ruby nodded. "I… might see you later."

She put the money for her meal on the table and started to leave.

"Wait." The man said. He reached into his coat, took out an old book, and held it out to Ruby. "It's the journal of one of my forbearers, another scholar who sought information on werewolves. I can't promise anything, but this may be useful for you."

Ruby nodded, took the book, and left.

 **SCENE**

Nora Valkyrie was bored. Jaune and Ruby had left the hotel before she and Ren were up, and the two of them had split up to see what was in town. Thus far, she hadn't found much. She could try the bowling alley, but she'd lost interest in bowling after the twelfth time in her life that a bowling alley had kicked her out. There was a play starting at a theater soon, but she didn't do well with any kind of entertainment that required her to sit still.

The end result was her sitting on a bench, bored out of her mind and thinking about how much she hated irony. Seeing Ruby walking down the street was almost a relief.

Ruby waved and ran over to her. She had a number of thin books in her arms.

"Hey, where have you been? What are all those books?"

"I went to the library and picked up a little light reading." Ruby said, showing off what she had. Most of the books looked fairly recent, and were labeled _Love Moon, vol. 1-12._ The last one was unlabeled, and looked to be at least several decades old.

"That's what you and Jaune were doing? Ruby-" Nora leaned in close to Ruby, "Did you forget about that certain little problem that's coming up? A certain little _big snarling problem?_ "

"Oh, yeah. That… That's all taken care of! Nothing to worry about!" Nora was worried. Nora never did anything by halves. Ruby could still recall how Nora thought her life might be ruined from losing the Vytal Tournament. She punctuated her statement with big smile that she hoped looked convincing.

"Really? It was _that_ easy?" said Nora, looking at Ruby's unconvincing smile.

"Of course!" said Ruby, mentally kicking herself over what was already shaping up to be a terrible plan.

"Is it that book?" Nora asked.

"Yeah! I found it in the library. It's all about werewolves. So I found… something… that will help. " Ruby lied. She hadn't opened it since she got it.

"And you're not telling me about this wonderful solution because?"

"It's… embarrassing. Really embarrassing."

"But you've really got it under control?"

"Yes."

"Really?" Nora said, leaning in close to Ruby. Ruby got the feeling that Nora didn't believe her, so she decided to try subtly changing the subject.

"Yepeallydontwanttotalkaboutitbutitworks! So, anything happen between you and Ren last night?"

Ruby did succeed in changing the subject, they way one might kill a fly by blowing up the building it was in. Nora stared at her, mouth agape. It took her a moment to find any words.

"Gahh! Ruby, you really need to think more about what you say- Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Is that a no?"

"Why do you care so much all of a sudden?! Huh?! I don't go asking you about Jaune!"

"J-jaune? Jaune? W-what makes you think there's something between me and Jaune?"

"I don't know. Is there?"

"N-no! I mean, sure, he's nice, and fun to be around, and he's actually been really supportive, and I guess he's kind of handsome… But no, nothing. Definitely. Probably. Maybe…" It seemed like it should've been easy, just like saying the sky was blue. Instead, the more she tried the less sure she felt.

"Okay, wow. I was just being rhetorical." Nora watched Ruby fidget. "Are you okay?"

"I-I don't know! My heart's beating like crazy, my head's light, and I don't know if I'm happy or terrified."

"Well, if you're anything like me- seriously, stop looking at me like that- it's probably both."

"So, you have been through this before?"

"Yeah. You look at someone and suddenly you realize that everything's changed. It's not easy. But listen, Ruby," Nora punctuated it by putting her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "If you really do feel that way about Jaune, you need to tell him."

"I will. I mean, eventually-"

"Ruby." Nora cut her off sternly. There was seriousness in her face that seemed totally foreign. "Don't wait. You don't have forever."

Nora glanced over Ruby's shoulder and her face lit up. Without saying a word, Nora spun Ruby around and gave her a shove. Ruby stumbled forward several feet, and when she straightened up, she realized she was standing face-to-face with Jaune.

 **Author's Note: Oh my God, I can't believe this took so long. This chapter turned out to be pretty hard to write. It was supposed to be the point where the romantic subplot became more prominent, but I realized partway through writing it that I hadn't foreshadowed it as well as I'd meant to. I also started my first full-time job, which hasn't left a lot of time for writing. Still, I'll get this story finished if it takes till judgment day.**


	4. Kaempf!

Ruby stared at Jaune, her jaw moving as she tried to say something, _anything._ She tried glancing back at Nora for help, only to find out she had disappeared.

Jaune chuckled. "Yeah, I've learned it's best not to ask questions about her."

Actually talking seemed to jolt Ruby's brain into activity. "So, how did it go?"

Jaune sighed. "Well, as it turns out there are two major religions here. Father Abend, Keeper of the Font of Ever-Flowing Blessings seemed like a pretty nice guy, but he doesn't like pranks very much."

"Why would he-" Oh, right. Werewolf. "What about the other one?"

"Well, the other major religion here is the church of Vollereir, the All-Consuming Greatwolf."

"So, not much help?"

"You have a standing invitation to come be their messiah, if you want."

"I'll pass."

"What about you? Did you find anything?"

Ruby sighed. "I met a scholar today who said he knows something about this, but…"

"But what? Isn't that what we need?"

"I'm not sure I trust him. He seems kind of fishy."

"Why not?"

"Are you telling me that I should?"

"I'm saying we don't have many options here. We can't pass up a lead on a feeling."

"He also had a moustache."

Jaune stared at her for a beat. "And?"

"It was an evil moustache! It was really long and- and pointy! And- Yyyyou don't look very convinced."

"'I don't like his moustache' isn't much of an argument. Look, I'm not saying we should stop looking and throw everything we have behind one guy. You might be right about him. But we can't afford to ignore a possible lead if all we have are suspicions. "

Ruby sighed. "Yeah, I see what you mean. " It was then Ruby had an idea. "We've been at this for most of the day. Do you want to take a break?"

"Shouldn't we keep looking?"

"Jaune, if we keep working all the time and never rest, we won't be able to do anything when we need to." It was, paraphrasing, something her father had told her and Yang numerous times.

"That is a good point. I'd certainly like a rest. What do you want to do?"

"Anything but go to a library." That earned a chuckle from him, though it may have just been from the overall tension. "How about we…" Go to the theater? Go shopping? Find a museum? "Spar?" For the second time that day, Ruby wondered if there was a warranty for her mouth.

"Spar? That's not exactly _relaxing,_ but okay." She was Yang's sister. It didn't sound too weird coming from her. "…Except for one little problem."

"What's that?"

"Remember what my sword did last time?"

Ruby remembered well enough. She now had about a dozen silvery scars across her body, most hidden under her usual outfit. Her aura simply didn't affect anything containing silver anymore. Why the blade of Jaune's sword contained any silver was something she would rather not think about.

"I think I know a way around that."

* **S*C*E*N*E***

"It feels so… small." Ruby said, marveling at the blade in her left hand. "It feels like swinging a toothpick around."

"And this feels like swinging a whole tree around." Said Jaune, hefting Ruby's scythe. _But it looks like he can handle the weight. Mostly. He's getting better with his Aura._

"I took out the ammo. This is going to be pure melee." They were going to be fighting in a vacant lot in a populated city. Shooting anything was a bad idea.

"Works for me. One three?"

"Sure. Three!" Ruby didn't waste time. She used her Semblance to charge at Jaune and took a swing at his leg. It would have worked perfectly if she were using her scythe. Instead she fell short on her swing and stumbled. She didn't get the chance to right herself before a strong blow sent her flying through the air. She rolled to a rough stop on the grass.

"I'm starting to like this thing."

Ruby charged again. Jaune drew the scythe back for another swing. Ruby was only a few feet away when she activated her Semblance and lept over him. Jaune took a swing at her. She had time to land and take a swing at him. She managed to land a hit, but she hadn't realized how much inertia Jaune would have on his swing. She hit his arm. The flat of her scythe's blade hit her, sending her sprawling once again.

"That was clever. But remember to use that shield." Jaune generally wasn't a hard hitter, but between the shield and his huge Aura reserve, he could be remarkably durable.

"You're doing pretty good, too. But you'll be a lot faster if you swing it point first."

Ruby rushed forward again. This time, Jaune drew back the scythe for an overhead swing. Instead of trying to go over, Ruby darted to one side. The scythe came down, burying the blade well into the ground. Jaune took a moment to adjust his grip to pull it out, only to take a series of hits to his back and arm. They weren't too powerful, but they had to add up.

Jaune managed to find the folding mechanism on her scythe. The blade tore itself out of the ground as it pulled into a compact shape. Jaune swung low at Ruby. She caught it on the shield. Her arm shook like crazy, but for once she didn't go flying.

"You fold it up, but it has the same weight." Jaune said.

"You remembered!" Ruby didn't bother to hide her delight.

Jaune made one high swing, then another from the opposite side. Ruby caught them both, but she could feel the impacts reverberating in her arm afterword. Jaune made another swing. This time, Ruby spun around him and aimed a swing at the back of his knee. Jaune pitched forward. Ruby took a swing at him, but instead of stopping Jaune threw himself into the motion and rolled.

"Hey, what's your sword's name?"

"What makes you think it has a name?"

"Every Huntsman and Huntress names their weapon. It's tradition!"

"Really? I'm not sure I've heard anyone say what theirs is called."

"C'mon." She said cajolingly.

"It's Crocea Mors."

"Crocea Mors. Nice." Even if she still wasn't sure where all these languages were coming from. "And your shield?"

"Ugh…. Shield…y?"

"Shieldy the shield?" She pondered for a moment. "I like it. It's very Jaune."

"Wait, what does that mean?" It turns out it meant that Ruby was trying to distract him. She charged again. Jaune ran towards her, hoping to throw off her timing, and took a swing at her She activated her semblance and went under it.

As well as over it.

For a moment, Jaune was too shocked to move. It was a moment too long. A sword swing to the back of his leg caused him to collapse. The blows rained down, with sword and shield. They weren't strong, but they added up quickly.

"I give up!" Jaune yelled. A second later, Ruby offered him his sword, back in his sheath.

"Good job!"

"You're too kind."

Ruby offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. She was grinning from ear to ear. "That was a lot of fun. Let's do it again sometime!"

They started walking, side by side. Ruby felt like she was walking on a cloud. It was an odd feeling. Sparring usually wasn't something she did for fun exactly, but right now, with Jaune, it was something different. There was something about it so… _exciting._ Like anything else would just be a step down. She wasn't exactly sure what having a crush was like, but this seemed like a reasonable facsimile, if nothing else.

She missed the look of worry on Jaune's face, who was starting to wonder why she had enjoyed beating him up so much.

 **Author's Note: It lives!**


	5. Jagd

It had been hours since the sun had set. They had returned to their rooms some time ago. It was the time he would normally be asleep, except there was something keeping him up that night.

A certain something that had its arms around his chest and its lips on his neck.

"Come on, Jaune." Her voice was heavy with want, but there was still a note of annoyance to it.

"I- it's just…"

"Is it Pyrrha again?" Ruby said, pouting up at him.

"Yeah, I should- I mean, she-" He train of thought jumped the tracks as her lips brushed his. Even the slight touch sent a jolt through his body. He wanted more. He wanted to hold her, to get more of that exhilaration. And yet, he couldn't move. It felt like his limbs weighed a ton.

"I miss her too, Jaune. But you can't bring her back by making yourself miserable, can you?" She was whispering into his ear. Even the warmth of her breath on his skin was a rush. He finally managed to put his arm into motion, tracing his fingers down her unblemished side.

"There we go." Ruby pulled back and smiled at him. "This is going to be fun." She held up one of her hands where he could see. She was holding a knife. Jaune's brain didn't have time to react before the blade tore across his throat. He fell backwards onto the bed. Ruby was on top of him immediately, her lips greedily taking his blood. Any joy in contact was gone.

Her face came into view once more, her lips dripping blood.

"Thank you so much, Jaune." Her tone was downright euphoric.

That was when the scene dissolved. Jaune was in his bed, under his covers. He could hear Ruby snoring from her bed. Jaune sighed. After several weeks of such dreams, he should have been used to them.

* * *

"…And he said that I had to get out because there was a storm coming, but I'd been waiting to swim all day, so I just kept at it-" Nora's story was interuped by a forkful of pancake. She stuck it in her mouth, then attepted to chew and talk at the same time. She only succeded at the latter."ulp. And that's how I disovered my semblance."

"That's… Quite the story." Ruby said, still gawking. The four were currently sitting around a table, enjoying breakfast at their hotel. Ruby was still carrying her old book from the day before. She seemed reluctant to even put it down.

"So, what's your plan for today?" Nora asked. "It seems like there's nothing left to do here."

"What did you do yesterday?" Ruby asked, ignoring the look Jaune was giving her.

"Went bowling, went to a theater, tried to write my own Opera, got kicked out of a theater for trying to sing during the play-"

"So, uh, anyway, Jaune and I are going to be asking around at the Geborgencumb University for any information about that one… _problem._ " Nora stiffened.

"I can help." Ren offered.

Nora leaned over and whispered in Ruby's ear. "Why do you need to ask around more? I thought you said you had that figured out."

"I may have exaggerated a little. It's more like… sixty percent." Ruby whispered back. The look Nora shot back said that she was not pleased.

"Do you… want to… come with us?" Ruby wanted to kick herself for how awkward she sounded. It wasn't that Nora was mad, exactly. She had seen Nora mad plenty of times. There was something else in the way Nora was looking at her, something she couldn't place.

"Actually, I think I just thought of something else to do today."

* * *

It was in a small, plain building near the outer wall. There was a short line of Huntsmen and Huntresses leading up to a counter. A group of receptionists were discussing possible jobs, ranging from guard work to hunting down any known Grimm in the area. Nora was thankful they line was moving quickly; waiting had never been her strong suite.

When it was Nora's turn, she looked through the list. It had to be something she could finish in a single day. There was a report of a group of Ursae about three miles away.

"I'll take this one."

"Alright." The receptionist said. And who will you be working with?"

"Whaddaya mean who else? I can take them all by myself."

The receptionist shook her head. "We don't sign off on Huntsmen going alone."

"Yeah, well, I don't need you approval! I'm a Huntress!"

"You do need our approval if you want to collect the bounty." She gestured towards a line of chairs on the wall. "Have a seat and wait. I'll let you know as soon as we have another Huntsman to join you."

Nora flopped down in a chair, arms crossed, pouting. This was nothing she couldn't handle by herself!

"Are you Ms. Valkyrie?" She looked up. He was a tall, lanky, clean-shaven man. He definitely looked like a Huntsman. The tan button-down shirt, tan pants and pith helmet looked almost ridiculously old-timey. His weapon, a massive axe, was rather odd-looking; the head was a half circle strip of metal with a blade on the outer edge, and there was a gear mechanism about halfway up the haft. "I heard you were looking for a partner."

"And you are?" It was purely a formality. It didn't really matter who he was, as long as he was willing to take the job with her.

"Mateusz Srebro."

"Gesundheit."

He shot her a look saying that he had gotten tired of such jokes ages ago. "I heard you needed a second for a job?"

* * *

The creature in front of her, a black mass shaped like a parody of a bear with white, bone-like plates on its face, roared at her. Nora wasn't impressed, and promptly brought her hammer down on its head. Its roar barely had time to turn into a whimper before it evaporated. Srebro dispatched another with a swing of his axe.

Ursae had pretty much stopped being dangerous partway through her time at Beacon. Unless something unexpected appeared, this was likely to be an uneventful fight. She swung her hammer sideways, sending another Ursa flying into a tree.

It had taken more than an hour for the two of them to hike out to the lightly wooded foothills where the Ursae lurked. It would take about as long to hike back, and the fight probably wouldn't last three minutes. Maybe they should've brought bikes?

Another Ursa came out of the brush and roared at her. She thought about shooting it, but grenades cost money. And never seemed to actually do as much damage as just swinging the hammer. She smacked it aside.

One extra-large Ursa came out at her, flanked by two others. The biggest one charged. She swung her hammer upwards, and threw it back between the other two. It didn't dissolve. Nora grinned. This was going to get interesting.

Or not. The three Ursae exploded in quick succession, followed by the trunk of a tree. Nora looked to one side to see Srebro, the head of his axe turned ninety degrees to form a massive crossbow. He walked over to where the tree had broken and picked up a metal ball the size of Nora's fist. "Three with one shot. Not bad."

Nora gawked. Killing the three of them wasn't so impressive by itself, but his timing was certainly good. "Did you plan all that or something?"

Srebro chuckled. "My dear, you can't plan everything out. I'm simply good at improvising."

The two of them checked through the surrounding area for a few minutes, but didn't find any more Grimm. They started back to Geborgencumb.

"You're certainly a gifted huntress for someone so young."

"Thanks. I dropped out of one of the most prestigious academies around. Wait, is it "dropping out" if the school got overrun by Grimm?"

"I may need to call upon you tomorrow night." He said gravely.

Tomorrow? Nora gulped. "And, uh, why _tomorrow?_ Is that when they're having the big spring thing?"

"Yes, the spring market is tomorrow night. And I suspect it will have a very unpleasant guest."

"Who's that?" There's no way he could know. No one outside their team knew what happened that night.

"I know you'll think this strange, but…" He hesitated, and then took a deep breath. "A werewolf."

Nora stopped in her tracks. Her blood ran cold.

"I know it may sound ridiculous, but it's true. I've seen its handiwork at several outlying villages." He waved his hand, as if wiping something away. "Dead, all of them. A city the size of Geborgencumb won't go down so easily, but the casualties could still be horrible."

"That's- I mean- How do you even know something like that is here?" Nora tried to sound skeptical, but she'd never been good at hiding her emotions.

"I found the remains of a village call Haewencroft. The population was dead, including the werewolf's old host. I found a trail left by some travellers. I've been tracking it for almost a month, and it led here." He shook his head. "But I still haven't been able to find them, and I'm sure the werewolf is going to stay here until the full moon."

Haewencroft? Host? He knew what happened there. He knew how the werewolf seemed to work. This just got worse and worse. "But isn't the problem solved, then? The werewolf's dead."

He shook his head. "The first person to approach the Werewolf's body becomes the new werewolf." Nora had already known that, but she was hoping to get him off track. "It would be best to find the host quickly and… _dispose_ of them."

Nora gulped. "But, what if the host doesn't… deserve it? What if they're not a bad person?"

He stopped, turned, and gave Nora a severe look. "I can assure you, they are most certainly not. There is no moral dilemma in this case."

"And why's that?" Nora asked, her stomach already sinking.

"When someone becomes a werewolf, the spirit, for lack of a better word, consumes them. On the inside, there is nothing left of the original person. The spirit tries to emulate their behavior, but it's purely to keep the people the host cared about around until it can devour them at the next full moon."

It hit Nora like a train. Her heart was pounding, in a way it hadn't since she'd seen a massive cainid shaking Ren like a chew toy. He had to be wrong. He had to be. There was no way, right?

"You know the host, don't you?"

Nora didn't respond. She didn't want to talk about this. She wished she'd never met him.

"They've been acting differently, haven't they?"

"…Different how?" Nora forced out. Whatever he said, she knew she wasn't going to like it.

"On the one hand, they'll try to be more affectionate than normal. It's a way to reassure you that they're still the same person. On the other had, their behavior is far more suspect. They become more secretive. They're more prone to lying. And they become more sadistic. Mind you, they won't make a big show of it; They'll try to find plausible deniability, try to mask it with normal behavior. Is any of that true?

Nora thought back to breakfast that morning. "…Maybe." She said. She flinched at how weak her own voice sounded. She'd faced mortal danger plenty of times, but this kind of fear was something she'd rarely had to face.

Nora had learned early in her life what it meant to be alone. She would give anything to never go back.

Srebro turned away from her. "Talk to her if you wish. You'll find I'm telling the truth.

Nora looked at the path ahead of them. It would take more than an hour to hike back to Geborgencumb. She wished it were longer.


End file.
